Even though Daniel is well trained and is fit, he starts to feel his shoulders burn after giving Peter chest compressions for what feels like hours.
He has blocked out everything around him, he can't let Stevie's cries in, he can't let any fear in, he needs to focus on doing this right.
It can't be that Peter dies, he can't let Stevie's father die right here on the kitchen floor.
So he keeps pushing, one hand on top of the other, fingers intertwined, his hand right next to the sternum. He remembers he has to push the chest down about five centimeters and it felt so easy on that dummy.
Now doing it on a real person, a person he knows, makes it a lot more difficult.
There's just no way he's going to give up, even if his arms fall off, he is an athlete, he knows how to push through pain and that's exactly what he's going to do now.
He quickly glances at Seb who blows air into Peter's lungs every time Daniel has done thirty compressions. They work as a team as they have done for many years, they never had to try to bring a man back to life though.
Failure in this case is just not an option, he can't let Peter down, he can't let Trudy down and he sure as hell can't let Stevie and the kids down.
"Ambulance should pull up any second now, Melissa make sure the door is open please." Seb tells her in between breaths.
Melissa puts Stevie on a chair and runs to the door to open it so the paramedics can come in.
She isn't religious at all, but in her head she keeps begging God not to let Peter die.
She rushes back into the kitchen where she sees Seb push his fingers in the side of Peter's neck, trying to find a pulse. He shakes his head and Daniel keeps going with the chest compressions.
Finally they hear sirens coming closer until they stop in front of the door.
Only seconds later two paramedics come running into the kitchen with their equipment.
"What happened here?" One of them asks.
"He hasn't been feeling well, and then a couple of minutes ago he just collapsed after telling us his chest hurt. They started CPR straight away." Melissa summarizes.
"Awesome job men, let us take over from here." The male paramedic puts his hand on Daniel's shoulder who almost wants to shrug him off, he feels like he has to keep going, but then Seb is behind him and pretty much lifts him off the floor so he has to stop.
The paramedics quickly hook Peter up on an AED to monitor any heart activity, but at first there isn't anything, so the male paramedic continue the chest compressions while his female colleague sticks an IV in Peter's hand to push in medicine.
Daniel and Seb are standing nearby, watching nervously as the paramedics try everything they can to bring Peter back.
Daniel hasn't noticed anything around him while he was working on his father in law, but now he hears Stevie's sobs behind him and he turns around.
Stevie is sitting at the kitchen table with Melissa beside her. His girlfriend is falling apart as she watches her dad being poked and prodded on his floor.
Even though he is shaking himself, he pushes away his own feelings so he can support Stevie.
He moves to her and Melissa steps aside. Seb wraps his arms around his girlfriend who is now able to finally let out her own distress and fear. Wrapped in Sebs secure arms Melissa starts to cry. The shock of seeing Peter collapse, the intense fear and devastation of Stevie has hit her hard. She kept it together until she felt Sebs arms and now she can't anymore.
Daniel squats down next to Stevie who seems completely shut down.
Only when he puts his hand on her leg she seems to realize he is there.
She looks at him, her eyes red and puffy, her face wet from her tears.
When they lock eyes she breaks again, so Daniel quickly holds her against his chest so he can try to comfort her. He knows if Peter doesn't pull through it will devastate Stevie. Her father is everything for her and he can only hope she's not going to lose him.
"He is strong Stevie. He will fight to come back to you and your mom." His words sound empty even for him, but he doesn't know what else to say or do.
Only now the impact of what he did hits him.
He performed CPR on his father in law, he tried to save his life, but what if he did something wrong? What if he only made things worse? He couldn't live with himself if he did anything that hurt Peter.
He realizes his face is now also wet, not because of Stevie's tears, but his own.
Stevie clings to him, desperate to find a glimmer of comfort or hope, but he can't give her hope. He doesn't even know if there is any. All he can do is hold her, not just for her comfort, but also for his.
"Stop for a moment Stan. Lets see if we have any activity back." The female tells her colleague.
He pauses his compressions and they look at the monitor.
For everybody in the room it feels like forever, but suddenly a smile appears on Stan's face.
"We have a rhythm! Lets get him stabilized and then to the hospital. He's not out of the woods yet."
~~~~~~
Trudy drives home from her sister who has a sprained ankle, so Trudy went over there to help her with her groceries and prepare some dinner for tonight. This way Carol will only have to heat it up.
Carol asked her to stay for dinner, but Trudy feels like she should be getting home to Peter. She is worried about him, in all the years they've been married he has never looked as poorly as he did before she left.
She knew Stevie was almost there, otherwise she would have never left, but she never lost that nagging feeling, that little voice in her head that kept telling her it wasn't just a cold or the flu.
She turns the corner into their new street, but when she comes closer to their house she suddenly sees blue, flashing lights.
She reaches their driveway and her entire body turns cold. There's an ambulance parked in front of the door and their front door is open.
Faster than ever she parks the car and jumps out, just as she wants to run inside, two paramedics push out a gurney with somebody strapped on to it.
She can't see who it is right away until they push the gurney passed her and she sees her husband on it, his eyes closed and his face a grayish color.
"Oh my god, Peter? What happened?" She asks as she sees Stevie come out, supported by Daniel and Melissa who is being held by Seb. They all have tears running down their faces and look very shaken up.
"Stevie!!! What is going on?" She calls out desperate to know more.
"Mom?! Oh god mom! He just collapsed." Stevie starts to sob again when she sees her mom.
"You are his wife?" The female paramedic asks her.
"I am yes. What is going on with my husband?" She walks next to the gurney to the ambulance.
"Your husband had a heart attack followed by cardiac arrest. He has a pulse again now, but we need to get him to hospital as fast as possible. You can ride with us."
Her words feel like a knife being stabbed into Trudy's heart. Like her heart stops beating as well.
Her husband, her soulmate, his heart stopped.
Does this mean she is going to lose him? That can't be the case, he is so young and healthy. There's no way he is going to die right?
Without looking back she climbs in the ambulance and as soon as Peter is secured in the back the ambulance takes off with the sirens wailing.
"Follow them. We will call Tina to let her know you guys won't be back any time soon and then we'll meet you at the hospital." Seb tells Daniel.
Daniel pulls his car keys from his pockets and pretty much drags Stevie to the car.
"Thanks Seb!" Daniel shouts after helping Stevie in the car and then he runs to the drivers side to get in.
He has to fasten Stevie's seatbelt as she is barely responsive, but a couple of seconds later he pulls out of the driveway and quickly catches up with the ambulance.
He doesn't care about red lights or a speed limit. He just follows the ambulance until they reach the hospital only minutes later.
The car gets left at a spot that isn't a parking spot, but it's not blocking anything, so Daniel doesn't care. If he gets a ticket he will pay it. He's not going to waste time looking for a parking spot when he just wants to get Stevie inside.
"Let's go baby." He opens the door for her and helps her out of the car. They both run inside and get to reception.
"Where is A&E. Her father had just been brought in and we need to get there now!" Daniel commands.
Usually he would have been a lot more polite, but he doesn't have time for that now.
"Through that door and then left. You can't miss it."
Before the woman behind the desk has finished her sentence they have already left and are bursting through the door she mentioned.
They turn left and just see the gurney with Peter on it being wheeled into an examination room.
Trudy wants to follow them inside, but she gets stopped by a nurse.
"You can't go in there I'm sorry. Somebody will come to you as soon as we know more. Take a seat in the family room there and we will find you."
"But that's my husband. I need to know what is going on." Trudy pleads.
"I know miss, I promise we will come to you as soon as possible."
She goes into the room where they just took Peter and closes the door behind her.
"Come on Trudy, let's take a seat. Let the doctors do their job." Daniel puts his hand on Trudy's shoulder and gently pushes her to the family room across the hall.
Luckily the room is pretty much empty, so they take a seat and now all they can do is wait.
Daniel can't stop bouncing his leg, sitting still and waiting is not one of his strongest qualities.
Stevie just stares at the door, begging in her head for somebody to come through to tell her everything is ok and her father can come home with them.
But there's nobody, there's no doctor coming yet.
Then after minutes that felt like an eternity the door does open.
The three anxious people raise their heads in expectation, but see Seb and Melissa walk in.
Stevie lets out a disappointed sigh. Of course it's nice that they are here, but they won't be able to tell her anything about her dad. She just needs to hear he is ok.
"We called Tina. She told us to tell you not to worry about Cole and Zara. They are fine and she is there with them. If you want we will go there as soon as there is news so she isn't alone." Melissa says as she sits down in one of the plastic chairs.
"Thanks Mel." Daniel smiles at her weakly.
Stevie still hasn't said a word and just keeps staring at the door. She is biting her nails, so he takes her hands in his to prevent her from chewing her fingers down to the bone.
"He is going to be alright you know." Trudy suddenly breaks the silence a couple of minutes later.
It's the first time Stevie looks up from the door.
"How can you be so sure mom?" Her voice doesn't sound like her, she struggles to talk as her throat feels like it's being squeezed and its raw from her screams and cries earlier.
"I just know. He promised me." Trudy says softly.
"Promised you what? Did he say something in the ambulance?" A glimmer of hope appears in Stevie's eyes. Was her father awake in the ambulance?
"No. But he always promised me that he wouldn't leave me alone. We agreed to go when we are old and we would go shortly after the other. This way none of us would have to live a long time alone."
Stevie swallows when she hears her moms voice break.
"He promised me, he isn't going to break his promise to me right? He wouldn't do that do me. He won't, because I'm not ready to live the rest of my life without him and he promised me."
Trudy starts to cry.
"He promised me." She whispers before covering her face with her hands as she crumbles in front of her daughter.
"Oh mom." Stevie quickly rushes to her mom and holds her tightly.
She feels her moms body shock against her as she cries. Trudy only now has had a moment to process what happened and only now the seriousness of the situation became clear to her.
Stevie realizes she has to be strong for her mom. She can't fall apart when her mother needs her so much. Every time something was wrong with Stevie, her mom and dad were there, they were strong for her. It is time to do for them what they always do for her.
"Mom he has never broken a promise before, so he's not going to do that now. He loves you too much to go like this." Stevie really hopes she is right, if her dad doesn't pull through it will devastate her mom. She doesn't know if her mom would be able to come back from that.
They have been together for ages. First they were friends at primary and middle school, but then they became a couple and they have never been with anybody else. Her parents are the perfect example of people finding their one true love and making it through anything life threw at them.
There has never been one without the other and today is not the day one gets left behind.
"I really hope you are right. I don't know what I would do without him." Trudy sobs.
"I know mom. Dad knows that too and he will do anything he can to pull through so he can come back to you. You have to have faith in him, he is healthy and strong. We are not losing him today."
Daniel looks at Stevie as she tries the comfort her mom. He is amazed by how she managed to put her own fear and pain to the side so she can be there for her mother.
He just hopes she is right and that Peter will indeed pull through.
~~~~~~~~~~
The five of them wait in silence. Seb goes to get some coffee for everybody, but it tastes like crap so none of them drinks it all.
Stevie is sitting next to her mom, holding her hand while Daniel is on the other side of Stevie and he has his hand on her leg.
Nobody speaks, they don't know what to say anyways. There aren't any words or sentences that seem right at this moment.
So they wait and stare at the door, waiting for it to finally open and they will hear something about Peter.
Finally, about forty five minutes later, that door opens and a man in white coat and scrubs walks in.
"Mr Dawsons family?" He asks and everybody quickly gets up from their chairs.
"Yes that's us. I'm his daughter and this is his wife."' Stevie tells him.
"I'm doctor Adams. I am your husbands doctor." He gestures for everyone to sit back down and he also grabs a chair.
"Is my dad ok? Please tell me he is alive." Stevie begs him.
"He is alive yes." Dr Adams answers and a huge sigh of relief sounds through the room.
"Oh thank god. Is he going to be ok?" Trudy needs to know.
"We hope so. Your husband had a heart attack which led to a cardiac arrest. His heart stopped for a bit, but I understand CPR had already started before the paramedics arrived?"
Stevie nods.
"Yes, my boyfriend here and Seb sitting behind you immediately took action and started CPR."
She points at Daniel and Seb.
The doctor looks at them both and for a moment he freezes, obviously recognizing Daniel and Seb.
But he quickly returns to his professional self.
"That was what saved his life today. If you hadn't started CPR, things would have ended a lot different."
Daniel can feel such a weight being lifted off his shoulders. Knowing he didn't make things worse for Peter means everything to him.
He looks at Stevie who has an incredible amount of gratitude and love in her eyes.
"Thank you Daniel and thank you Seb. You guys are amazing, you're my heroes and I love you both." She says, her voice soft.
Then she turns back to the doctor.
"So what now? Can we see him? How is he doing?"
"He is sleeping now, he did regain consciousness for a bit, but his body went through a lot of stress today so he couldn't stay awake. We found out he has a blocked artery in his body that we need to fix, so we are going to do that now. After that he will be taken to the intensive care unit and you can see him. Only for a minute though. He needs to rest." The doctor explains.
"Are you going to operate on him?" Trudy asks him.
"It's not surgery like you think, we will insert a little wire in his artery. Then we will place a coil that will remove the blockage and it will keep the artery open. It very minimal invasive because we are going in the groin area. So we won't have to operate him with a large incision. So unless we find something we didn't see on the scans, he should be recovering from that fairly quickly."
Everybody in the room feels the tension leave their bodies. By the sound of it, Peter was very lucky and won't need open heart surgery or anything else major.
"What is the prognosis though? Will he suffer permanent damage or anything? Is my dad still my dad after this?" Stevie is dying to know.
"We believe he will make a full recovery. Because CPR started straight away he never lost blood flow to his brain, so there doesn't seem to be any brain damage or anything else that his heart attack could have caused. When he woke up he could talk and he sounded normal. We will obviously know more once that blockage is removed and he had time to rest. I should go now, I'm sure they prepared him to be taken upstairs. I will have a nurse come to get you once he is done."
Dr Adams shakes Trudy's hand, but Trudy pulls him in for a hug.
"Thank you so much." She whispers as tears start to spill again. Only now they are tears of relief and hope.
Once she lets go of him Stevie shakes his hand.
He turns to Daniel and Seb.
"Amazing job, you definitely saved Mr Dawsons life today."
After those words he leaves the room to go back to his patient. Leaving a very relieved family to process all that just happened.
"I will call Tina to let her know the news. I'm sure she is freaking out." Melissa says as she takes her phone and walks out of the room as well.
Trudy reaches out her hands and holds Daniel's hand in her right and Sebs hand in her left.
"I will never be able to thank you enough for what you did today. If it wasn't for you, I would be a widow right now. I will always be grateful and in your debt."
Seb and Daniel both shake their heads.
"No Trudy, we were just there at the right time. All that matters is that Peter recovers and takes it easy for a while. We are just happy we were able to do something." Seb says.
"I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you weren't there. I wouldn't have been home in time and he would have been there all alone. Thank you so much."
Daniel hugs Trudy.
"I'm glad we kept that first aid knowledge up to date. We should thank Christian I guess. He made it a mandatory thing for us to do every year."
He will make sure to tell Christian that he should never stop with those first aid classes. If he didn't have that he isn't sure if he would be able to do what he did today. And he for one will never complain anymore when he has to go to that class. Today it showed how important it was.
The room feels a lot less dark and heavy now they know Peter is ok, there are some careful smiles on their faces as they wait until the nurse comes to take them to see Peter.
"I'm guessing they won't let everybody see Peter, so how about we go to see Tina and keep her company for a bit?" Seb says when Melissa comes back.
"That would be amazing. We will probably be home late. Please tell my babies I love them." Stevie asks them.
"Tell them we love them." Daniel adds.
Of course they are Stevie's kids, but he feels like their dad. He's always around them and can't imagine his life without those two.
Stevie looks at him. He really does love her kids and he takes care of them just as much as she does. They definitely have a father figure in their lives now and she couldn't be more grateful.
"You're right. Tell our kids we love them very much."
~~~~~~~~~
By the time the nurse finally comes to get them, they don't have any feeling in their bums anymore from the plastic chairs they've been sitting in.
Daniel pretty much emptied out the vending machine for some drinks and snacks as they never had any dinner and they were all starving as it is getting quite late in the evening.
Melissa texted that Cole and Zara were fast asleep when they got there and Tina was very happy to hear Peter pulled through. Seb and Melissa will stay so she isn't alone until Stevie and Daniel come home.
"Mr Dawsons family?"
A very young nurse looks around the corner of the door.
"Yes, that's us." Trudy gets up.
"You can come see him. The procedure went very well and Dr Adams was able to remove the blockage. Mr Dawson will feel a lot better now."
They waste no time and quickly follow the nurse up to the intensive care unit.
"Has he woken up yet?" Stevie asks her but she shakes her head.
"He might sleep until tomorrow, but that's good. He needs to rest plenty to recover from this. But so far he has stayed stable since he was brought in."
That sounds positive. So Stevie feels a lot better when they reach the intensive care unit.
It is very quiet here, all you hear is the beeping sounds of the machines and the doctors and nurses walking around. But somehow they all seem to walk quieter here, they speak softer, so it's obvious there are some really ill people here.
"He's right here. Don't be scared he has a lot of tubes and wires attached to him, but he is breathing on his own. It's just to monitor his heart and oxygen level in his blood. And of course he has an IV to give him fluids and medicine. We do allow only two people in the room at the same time." She explains so Daniel immediately steps aside.
"I'll wait here. I'll see him when he is a bit better. I'm just glad that he is reasonably ok."
Stevie gives him a kiss, before taking a deep breath and walking through the door the nurse just opened for them.
As they walk inside she sees the bed and her father who is laying in it. His eyes closed and he still looks a bit pale. He has two bags of fluids hanging on the IV, stickers on his chest with wires attached that lead to a machine which shows his heartbeat with green lines on a screen.
He only has one of those nasal cannulas in his nose for some extra oxygen.
"Oh Peter. You scared the living daylights out of us." Trudy slowly walks to the bed where her husband, who always looks like a huge teddybear, now seems fragile, but he's alive and that is all that matters.
Trudy wipes some tears from her face that started running down her cheeks when she saw the man she loves more than life itself laying here in bed so quiet.
"Don't ever do that again you silly man. I almost thought you were going to break your promise about us not leaving each other until we are very, very old."
She strokes his bearded cheek, very happy to feel his warmth on her hand. He is warm, he is alive, he is going to get better.
"Oh dad, just look at you. You have to get better soon ok? I know Cole and Zara will be so happy to see you when you come home. We all need you and we love you so much. Besides if I ever get a chance to get married, you have to walk me down that aisle ok? So no more jokes like these."
Stevie sits down on a chair next to the bed and she takes her fathers huge hand in hers.
Her father, who always made her feel so safe and protected now needs their love and care more than ever.
They stay with Peter for a bit until the nurse comes back inside.
"We can have one of you stay here with him for the night if you want."
"I'm staying." Trudy says straight away.
"Sure, I'll get one of our fold out beds here for you."
"Mom you don't have anything, no toothbrush or pyjama's. Do you want me to bring you something from home?" Stevie asks her.
"Oh that's not necessary for tonight. We have disposable toothbrushes and we can arrange something to sleep in." The nurse tells them before she leaves to get the bed.
"I guess I'm set for the night. But it would be nice to have some clean clothes and underwear tomorrow."
"Sure, I'll get some things for you tomorrow. Are you sure you'll be ok here alone?" Stevie asks a bit worried about her mom. It doesn't really feel right to leave her here by herself.
"I'm not alone. I'm with your dad. I just don't want to leave him. If I go home then I'll be alone and so is he. I'll be right where I want to be."
Trudy wouldn't even consider leaving. Her husband needs her now and she won't leave his side until he can go home.
"Ok, I'll be back here first thing tomorrow morning. I love you mom."
She gives her mom a kiss on the cheek before leaning over the bed so she can kiss her dad on his forehead.
"I love you dad. You rest and I will see you tomorrow."
When she stands back up she can see her dad pulling up one corner of his mouth as if he is trying to smile.
For Stevie that is enough to give her the reassurance her father will make a full recovery.
In the hall Daniel is waiting for her to come out and he immediately rushes to her when she comes through the door.
He can see she has a slight smile on her face which fills his heart with joy and love.
"Was he awake?" He asks her.
She shakes her head.
"No, but he is going to be fine."